stuff i'm/'v been/'ll be up to... and random thoughts, just in case i have any. =)

Friday, September 7, 2007

Young Righters' Camp

huh? shouldn't it be "young WRITERS' camp?"

well, misspellings don't matter anyway as no-one seems to be reading anymore... no comments for the posts, and not a squeak in the chatterbox...

haha, but actually it isn't a misspelling. let me explain.

one of the unique things about this years' young writers' camp are the group projects. the campers were divided into groups and encouraged to come up with a project that they would work on for at least 3 months, post-camp. one of the important steps in the group process was to come up with a problem statement, a sentence that sums up what the group project aims to effect change upon. here are the problem statements of the 5 groups at camp:- the fact that freedom of religion and speech is ignored will ultimately destroy racial harmony.- existing affirmative action policies and strict apostasy laws prohibit religious freedom and racial equality.- racial and religious discrimination exists because malays are born muslims and given preference over non-malays.- the education system doesn't teach students to think independently.- taboo issues faced by teens are not properly addressed by the government and the education system.

at this time when there is so much hoo-hah going around about malaysia being/not being an islamic state, the ridiculous suggestion to do away with our common law and replace it with syariah and etc... this is a breath of fresh air. there is a bunch of young people in malaysia who realise that it isn't what it should be, and instead of running away (oops, i mean emigrating) they are committing themselves to make a difference for the better. more than writers, they are righters - they will work to make things right.

perhaps there is hope in a dark place, after all. though it remains to be seen if the projects will actually work out well. then again, with God, there's always hope. =)

joshua: they ranged all the way from 12-20. the older ones did tend to dominate, but facilitators were there to make sure the younger/quieter ones had a voice and weren't forced into anything.

chee eng: thanks for reading bro =) as i asked in the chatterbox, is there any way i can know that ppl read my blog without looking at the comments and tags? because it feels really pointless to blog if i think no one's reading... so i'd like to know. =)